Ailing Prince
by Elillierose
Summary: When Noctis doesn't answer his adviser's calls or texts, Ignis suspects the worst and wastes no time rushing to the prince's place. But, what he finds isn't quite what he expects. Sickfic. 9th fic in my 10 fic giveaway.


**Beta read by: SinikkavonWolperting and istoleyourcheesecake**

 **Ninth of the ten fics for my 500 follower giveaway on Tumblr. I do these every 100 followers and am currently hosting the next if any are interested. Tumblr name is same as my name on here. C:**

* * *

He groaned as he shifted, the slightest movement enough to send his insides into turmoil. Noctis buried his face in his pillow, trying his damnedest to shield his eyes from the assaulting rays that filtered through. Then, if that wasn't bad about, he winced in pain with every blare of his alarm. Why wouldn't it stop already? It was doing nothing other than intensifying his headache to the point of being untolerable.

The prince squeezed his eyes shut when another wave of nausea washed over him. This one far worse than the last few. He had no idea how long he had been awake now, but he was convinced it had to at least been half the night. The fact that it was beyond hot in his room wasn't helping matters in any way.

He begged for the misery to stop, but he didn't know what he was expecting.

If anything, his body listened to his pleas and went out of its way to carry out the exact opposite. He wrapped both arms around his abdomen when it cramped fiercely. There was no avoiding it this time, he knew what was coming, and the first thing that nagged him was whether or not he would make it in time. The dark-haired teen tossed his covers back, making sure his feet were completely uncovered to avoid tripping. After the last time that happened, he made sure to go out of his way not to repeat it.

Though, he still stumbled his way to the bathroom where he thrust the lid open and shoved his head over until it was mere inches away from being inside of it. His throat burned as bile climbed its way up. Tears streamed from the corners of his eyes as vomit was forcefully expelled. He prayed for it to stop, begged his body to give him a bit of a break. Nothing more than wishful thinking.

This went on for a few minutes, half of which was him gripping the toilet, desperately dry heaving. Each gag brought more moisture to his eyes and more pain to his throat.

By the time it was over - thank the Astrals - the young prince was left breathless with his head leaning against the rim of the toilet. The idea of just how unsanitary that was didn't even pop up as a concern in his muddled and exhausted mind. The only thing that did was his need to go to sleep. He only wanted to crawl back into his bed, curl up, and stay there for a week straight.

After another minute, he pried his eyes open as dread began to sink in. ...It was a school day. Dammit. He had to at least let Ignis and Prompto know that he wouldn't be able to go today. If not...well, the insinuations of that didn't need clarifying. It was enough to cause him to let out a subdued growl of annoyance.

His head was throbbing, his stomach ached, all of his limbs felt like lead and he had this unshakable fatigue that was gradually getting stronger. To put it simply, he was miserable. He forced himself to take a deep breath and prepared himself to get up. But, he barely made it a few inches before his body protested heavily against it and his world tilted.

'Come on.'

In the back of his mind, he can hear something going off, quite a bit as well. It takes him a while to realize it's his phone, all the way in the other room. That alone was enough to cause his eyes to snap back open and drag to look in its direction. He couldn't see it on the other side of his bed, but that didn't stop him from staring anyway.

For a few seconds, he stayed like this, as if trying to silence it with his mind. This was ridiculous, of course, but in his delirious state, it seemed plausible enough. Once it stopped, he relaxed his shoulders marginally and made the tough choice of sliding back just enough to lean against the wall instead. It was only slightly more comfortable, but it had the added perk of not lying his face against a toilet.

However, that momentary peace didn't last for long when his phone was going off again. Not even a minute after the first. The same occured, it rang a bit and ended soon after. About a minute, and it went off again, this time signalling a message.

'Just leave me alone, will ya,' he grumbled to himself as his head pounded. He was unsure how many times this happened, he lost count quickly. And, he wasn't sure if it was a good thing or not, but he got used to them. Either that or he became too tired to care anymore.

He listened to them each time, focusing on them, using them as a distraction to take him away from this torture. His brows knit, was it him or was the sound moving farther away, becoming quieter and more warped. He cracked an eye open - as wide as he could - which was enough to notice the room warping as well. Noctis felt sick again and colors bloomed all across his vision. One hand cradled his head as the other clawed at the floor. Desperately he tried to fight off the invitations of unconsciousness. But, it was a losing battle. He was doing nothing aside from postponing the inevitable.

He blinked heavily, each time he opened his eyes the world was a few shades darker. He was losing it, quickly at that. His breathing sped up, but it felt as though he was absorbing none of the oxygen. This was it, he was fully convinced he was dying in that moment. Someone was going to find him...dead in his bathroom. The prince wasn't sure why that was the thought he focused on, but he could think of nothing else as darkness finally clouded and veiled all of his senses.

* * *

Ignis tore his phone from his ear and stared at it momentarily. He looked at the number as if to make sure he had tapped the right one. Sure enough, it was Noctis' number. He pursed his lips in confusion. Well, he was supposed to be getting ready for school, so perhaps he had merely missed the call. It wouldn't be the first time.

And so, he gave it some time. It wasn't much time, but he deemed it enough for the prince to make it back to his phone. Why he didn't keep the device on him at all times, he had no idea. Letting out a huff, he dialed again and pressed it to his ear. The ringing tone filled his ear as he tapped his foot impatiently only to end with the same result.

"Come on, Noct, answer the damn phone," he grumbled with another tap.

Two more times, still no answer. It had probably been a few minutes of no answers or call backs now. It was starting to get irritating if not slightly infuriating. It soon became clear, however, that he likely wasn't going to get an answer. Perhaps the young man thought it wise to put it on silent. Very well. If that were the case, he would send a message and he could reply when he was available. It wouldn't have been his first choice, but whatever worked.

The man quickly typed out a quick message and pressed 'send' without even bothering to look it over. Over the course of an hour, he had sent at least twenty of these, all of which went unanswered. He was sure he had made it quite multiple times that Noctis was not to go even thirty minutes without responding unless he had a reason ahead of time.

He chewed on his lower lip as the possibilities started to flare up in his mind. What if he was kidnapped? What if he was injured? Or, it could be something as simple as him losing his phone.

The man wasted no time snatching his keys off the table and taking off out the door. He didn't know if he locked up or not, if not, then so be it. In the matter of a few minutes, he was pulling out into the highway, fingers drumming impatiently against the wheel.

'What have you gotten yourself into this time?' he questioned with a small shake of his head.

Ignis may have gone a little faster than the speed limit. Luckily, as the prince's adviser, he had the luxury of doing so in the case of emergencies, and he'd be damned if this wasn't one of those moments. He glanced up when the apartment complex was finally in view and his jaw locked up at the sight of it and his foot pressed down harder.

He quickly parked the car and hopped out, never pausing between closing the door and taking off towards the front entrance. The moment he reached the stairs, his pace slowed, dropping almost to that of a crawl as he ascended with bated breath. What would he come across? In the back of his mind, all he saw was red...everywhere. He swallowed thickly, praying that not to be the case. He knew staying in this place was a bad idea. Noctis should have listened to him when he warned him against these sorts of things. He was better off staying in the castle!

Ignis paused in front of the door and took a deep breath, one that failed to fill his lungs. Raising his hand, he tapped the back of it against the door a few times. "Noct? Are you awake?" Just to be sure, not wanting to intrude, he called one more time, nearly jumping when the ringing sounded on the other side. Maybe this wasn't as bad as he thought, perhaps the royal did go to school after all and just forgot his phone. He could hope, anyway.

Grumbling to himself, most of which consisted of swears, the brunet fumbled with his keys until the desired one was gripped tightly. He took one more deep inhale and held it as he pushed the door open. So far, nothing was out of the ordinary, it was just as he had left it. But, he never dropped his guard. He wouldn't until he could be sure Noct was safe and sound. Cautiously, he ventured deeper, on down the hall. His observant stare glanced into each room as he went until he finally reached the bedroom. This is where he stopped dead in his tracks as he peered inside.

The first thing he noticed was the way the cover was strewn across the floor, as if someone had left in a hurry...or like there was a struggle. His blood ran cold as he stepped farther inside. His gaze scanned the room, searching for any other signs. But there was nothing, nothing until he spotted the phone on the side table.

Walking slowly, Ignis strolled silently to it and picked it up. He saw every notification from him trying to reach the raven-haired boy. He bit the inside of his cheek and gently placed it back down. Just as he went to turn around, there was another noise that snatched his attention. It was a groan, a pained one.

"Noct?"

He turned towards the bathroom and his eyes doubled in size at the sight before him,

"Noct!"

The brunet practically dropped to his knees at his charge's side. Without hesitation, he reached an arm around the prince's shoulders and lifted him from the wall in an attempt to rouse him. This went without success. Next, he pressed his hand against the boy's forehead and was tempted to pull it right back away at the heat that radiated from it.

He should have come sooner.

"Come on, Noct, wake up will you?" he begged, tapping the side of his face lightly. All he got was a soft moan from him as his head lolled to the side, falling against the adviser. He wasn't aware of the smell until now; the stench enough to draw his attention elsewhere. Ignis looked to the toilet and barely saw what rested inside before he snapped his head back away. "Let's get you back to bed."

He tried a few more times to wake the young man enough to walk on his own, but soon brushed that idea away. It was clear that wasn't happening any time soon. Instead, he lifted Noctis bridal style, muttering softly under his breath, and carried the ailing boy back to the other room.

Once the prince was situated, Ignis sat next to him to better assess his condition. He obviously had a fever, and there was vomiting. It was impossible to tell what else though until he showed some sign of awareness.. All he could do in the meantime was make him as comfortable as possible and wait until that moment, no matter how long it took. But, he had already made up his mind: If night should fall without him waking, or should his condition decline, he was taking him to the hospital. Astrals forbid it come to that.

First thing that had to be done, some cleaning up. Even from here, he could smell the mess in the other room. And with Noctis as sick as he was, there was no way it was doing him any favors. That, of course, took not time to carry out. Next on his list, was taking care of that fever, as best he could. It wasn't much, but the brunet swiftly fetched a bowl of cool water and a rag.

Ignis wrung it out and draped it over the prince's forehead. As soon as it made contact, Noctis let out a small whimper and seemed to lean towards it, his body demanding more of the craved and cool relief.

Track of time was lost. It could have been minutes, or it very well could have been hours. It was all the same to him. He closed his eyes for a moment, trying to rest his weary mind for a couple. Leaning back, his chair let out a creak of protest.

"Specs?"

Said man jolted upright at the croaky and familiar voice. His gaze was instantly on the prince. "Noct?" he breathed out, voice so low he wasn't even sure he heard it himself. After he cleared his throat, he gave it another go, this time with much more strength than the first. "How are you feeling? Is there anything that hurts or that bothers you. And, how long have you bee-"

A raised hand cut the man off. "Lower...your voice," the dark-haired prince whimpered softly with a wince.

"My apologies," Ignis muttered, bowing his head slightly. "How are you?" he asked again.

At this the other cracked one eye partially open and stared at him. In response, he offered nothing more than a half-shrug and another groan. Well, that answered the question, at least, Ignis supposed.

"Alright, and is anything else bothering you other than fever and nausea?" he asked next, never giving the kid a chance to process what the hell was going on or why his adviser was in his room.

"Head."

Right, of course, that explained the sensitivity to loud sound. As soon as he received that answer, the brunet was on his feet and closing the blinds, banishing the sun. "You nearly gave me a heart attack when you weren't answering your phone," he finally began explaining, sure Noctis had some questions of his own. "I came over as quickly as I could, fearing the worst." Well, to him this was still pretty up there.

The prince just nodded along, soaking - or trying to soak - it all in. With each passing second, he could feel exhaustion grip his senses tighter in their grasp though.

Ignis was quickly able to pick up on the subtleties and removed the rag from the prince's forehead. There was a small noise of displeasure as it was taken away, but it was replaced soon enough with a freshly doused piece of material. This instantly put the boy more at ease as he relaxed against his sheets.

"Try and get some more rest, Your Highness. I promise, I'm not going anywhere and will be right here should you need anything," he assured, his features set in a determined expression. He offered the prince a warm smile as he nodded and turned his head to the side. With one more deep and comfortable exhale, Noctis was out once more. Ignis let out a sigh of his own and leaned back once more. There goes his day of productivity, but, on the bright side, it was better than dealing with a kidnapping.


End file.
